While the Table Mountain Arial Cableway is closed for maintenance from July 15th until September 1st this year, Signal Hill still offers spectacular views of the city, Table Mountain, and the Atlantic Ocean. Whether you’re looking for a family-friendly picnic spot,  a romantic sundowner venue, or just some iconic images of Cape Town and Table Bay, it is easily accessible and highly recommended.

The name originated at a time when it was used as a point from which Dutch settlers used signal flags to send weather warnings and anchoring instructions to ships in Table Bay.

Nowadays, a large cannon, aka the Noon Gun, is fired from the top of the hill at (yes) noon each day except Sundays and public holidays. The oldest living tradition in town, and accurate to the nearest millisecond, it booms over the city, surprising most visitors, but it is said that one can recognize long-term locals by the way that they jump at the silence at noon on Sundays.

One of many endearing peculiarities of Cape Town, there is no fee to watch the firing ritual as of 11:30 each day, and here’s a challenge for you.  If you take your picture at just the right moment, as Yvette did here, it will display the result of the acousto-optic effect (sound distorting light), in the fence and flagpole.